Local –
Worthington City Council Approves Charter Amendments for November Ballot
- Worthington voters will consider three city-proposed and one citizen-proposed charter amendments questions on their November 3 ballot.
- The first ballot question would make it so any changes to the city's zoning code, zoning district boundaries, or zoning classifications would take effect 30 days after the changes are published by the city. This will reduce the time citizens have to file referendums from 60 days to 30 days.
- The second ballot question would change the number of signatures required for a referendum petition to 10% of the number of voters who voted in the most recent governor's election in the city.
- The Ohio General Assembly increased this requirement to 35% in September 2025.
- The final ballot question would make dozens of small changes and updates to the city charter, and it would combine the city's Board of Zoning Appeals, Board of Architectural Review and Municipal Planning Commission into a new Municipal Development Commission.
- Worthington council also recently voted unanimously to add a citizen-led ballot initiative to reduce the number of signatures required for a referendum petition to the November ballot. Under Ohio law, city councils are required to vote to add properly certified citizen referendums to the ballot.
Local/State –
Ohio Supreme Court Case Could Shape Future Data Center Fights
- Three Ashville residents filed a motion before Ohio’s Supreme Court after the village approved a deal with EdgeConneX to build a hyperscale data center in the small rural community. The residents are taking legal action against Ashville Fiscal Officer April Grube, alleging she improperly kept a citizen petition that would have stopped the data center project from going to the ballot.
- The lawsuit asks the Supreme Court to allow voters to decide the data center’s fate in the November election.
- Staff are monitoring and will update membership.
- Columbus REALTORS® does not have a policy position on data centers currently.
National –
NAR Submits Comments on FHFA’s Duty to Serve Proposed Rule
- FHFA recently announced changes to the DTS rule in hopes of creating a more flexible framework for the Enterprises. Once the rule is finalized, the Enterprises will then develop concrete DTS plans that will be submitted to FHFA and again have a period for public feedback.
- NAR recently submitted comments on the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) Duty to Serve (DTS) proposed rule.
- he Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 established an affirmative obligation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (collectively, the "Enterprises") to serve three traditionally under-served markets: manufactured housing, affordable housing preservation, and rural housing.
